Investor Updates: August 25 2022 - Egypt’s SubsBase raises $2.4m in seed round

Egypt’s SubsBase raises $2.4m in seed round

Highlights

• Egypt: SubsBase, the first and only subscription and recurring revenue management platform catering to the MENA region has closed its seed round at $2.4 million led by Global Ventures.
• Founded in 2020, SubsBase is a cloud-based subscription, recurring revenue, and billing management platform, that empowers subscription and recurring-based businesses with the collection, operational, analytics, and billing tools to manage their clients efficiently.
• The newly raised funds will be deployed to accelerate product development to cater to rapidly increasing customer demands and support the expansion strategy across the MENA region. SubsBase has the first-mover advantage and aims to roll out its platform across MENA.

Source: TechCrunch

Our Takeaway

Most businesses, especially in Africa, face the operational challenge of managing revenues and collections. This is largely due to the diversification of payment forms and providers, and that’s what SubsBase is aiming to address. Its no code/low code platform removes the overhead for companies completely, by managing the full subscription lifecycle of invoicing, payments, and notifications. An extra, material benefit is that the platform easily integrates with its clients’ existing systems, which has contributed to a reported 200% month-over-month growth since officially launching over a year ago.

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OBM raises second round of investment from EdVentures

Highlights

• Egypt-based education-focused technology startup OBM has raised an undisclosed six-digit sum from EdVentures in the second round of investment. 
• Founded in 2020 by Omar El-Barbary and Ezz El-Din Farag, OBM helps pre-university students choose their college majors and provides them with career advice and training programs.
• The new investment will enhance OBM’s expansion plans and launch its new application; “Taleb”, which would enable the startup to provide comprehensive services for its users.

Source: Wamda

Our Takeaway

Nearly all face-to-face interactions in different fields, from education and grocery shopping to events and work, are moving online in Africa as digitalization increasingly penetrates the continent. These conditions indicate the region is ripe for disruptions in education, and many startups like OBM have emerged to capture this opportunity with backing from international investors. This development bodes well for the continent, where the average literacy rate is estimated at 70% and lags behind other parts of the world. 

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Binance launches crypto education hub in Cameroon

Highlights

• Binance has launched a crypto education hub in Yaoundé, Cameroon, collaborating with Inoni Tech, a non-profit tech hub providing resources and training for young people across francophone Africa.
• Through the hub, a training center for in-person blockchain education sessions, Binance aims to equip crypto enthusiasts with more resources to thrive within the ecosystem as well as foster offline connections.
• Since the launch of the Binance Masterclass Education Series, Binance claims to have educated over 600,000 Africans about cryptocurrency. The launch of the crypto hub takes the education efforts a step further.

Source: TechCabal

Our Takeaway

Despite the mostly hostile reception African governments have given cryptocurrencies, ordinary citizens on the continent continue to interact with crypto in very different ways. In fact, Africa accounts for some of the most important use cases and opportunities for digital currencies, and Binance is hoping to build on this through its crypto hub. It has the potential to demystify the concepts and foster the right understanding of the many opportunities that crypto and the blockchain ecosystem can bring to Cameroon and broadly francophone Africa.